Those arrests were made in the past 48 hours and included people who came to authorities’ attention after the September 11, 2001, al Qaeda terror attacks in the United States.

The source stressed that none has been charged with any terrorism-related offense but were rounded up on unrelated charges — in one case, credit card fraud — in an effort to get information about possible threats. None of those picked up was identified.

This is just a lit-tle bit too Orwellian for me. A “pre-emptive” arrest? And just what might that be?